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mitchy at 11:35am on 29/09/2010 under birmingham, mary r, san francisco/west coast trip 2010
mitchy at 11:35am on 29/09/2010 under birmingham, mary r, san francisco/west coast trip 2010*surfaces from holiday plotting*
Right, quick update on all things in my Mitchy-shaped world :)
So last Thursday, I scampered out of work early and leapt on a train to Birmingham, in order to meet Mary R who was on a flying visit to the UK and whose birthday was that day.
I have to say, the travel was very easy. Quick hop from WGC to Finsbury Park, then across on the Underground to Euston, then I barely had to wait 15 minutes before I settled onto the very shiny Virgin train up to Birmingham International. I had enough time at Euston to buy a tasty pasty for lunch (cheese and bacon - nyom!) and a couple of cans of cider :D
The weather was vile throughout and I figured I'd get soggy wet at Birmingham getting from the station to the hotel. As it turned out, I was wrong. The hotel that Mary was in was the Novotel at Birmingham Airport. Turned out there was a lil' shuttle train from the railway station to Terminal 1 and the hotel was bang opposite. I only had a short scamper across the road to the hotel to cope with! Excellent!
Mary was there, surrounded by all her shiny toys - not for nothing do her colleagues call her "Gadet Girl". She let me play with her iPad - very shiny :) We caught up for a bit and then scampered off to meet up with Zoe and Andy, who were en route from the Lake District to Bedford and were kindly playing chauffeur for us :) We went to a nearby Weatherspoons for coffee/booze while the worst of the local rush hour sorted itself out and then headed off to an all you can eat Chinese buffet play Zoe had scouted out on the internet. Vast amounts of chinese food was consumed and, as usual, I misjudged it and left myself no room for dessert. Conversation was wide ranging, as you might expect given all of us come from very different backgrounds and occupations :)
After an excellent evening, Zoe and Andy dropped us back at the hotel - talk about troopers, they still had a couple of hours driving to do to get to Bedford! Mary had to be up at some stupid hour like 6am, so we didn't stay up yakking for too long, but there was time to play with the iPad some more and to drink the can of cider left in my bag, while Mary indulged in a beer from the hotel bar :)
I was awake briefly to see Mary off but sensibly snoozed for a bit longer after she left for the looooong (not) trek to the airport :D I didn't linger though, I was awfully hungry when I woke up, so I headed out around 9.30 and stopped at one of the restaurants in the airport (a Frankie and Benny's, I think) for a large, cooked breakfast. And lots of tea :) Suitably fueled, I caught an earlier train back to WGC than I'd planned, and had an equally smooth journey home. Got in around 1.30pm. And promptly curled up and snored for a few hours. I hadn't really slept well in the hotel - the bed was small and I couldn't get comfy. So I really needed the sleep! It was worth it to see Mary R though and help her celebrate her birthday :)
I'm sure I did stuff at the weekend but what I did escapes me. There was football and baseball and American Football watching. Oh and I bought the DVD of Robin Hood with Russell Crowe, so there was happy squeaking over that at some point :)
This week is all about the last minute holiday stuff. This morning, I've bought my train tix to get to and from Heathrow. It was the cheapest and quickest option this time around - normally I leave the car in long term parking but I baulked at paying current prices for a 17 day stay! Tonight 'm going shopping for a new shiny phone, possibly an Android. More about that if I find something. Tomorrow I must buy a rucksack. I had a great rucksack that would be perfect for this trip but I can't find the blasted thing anywhere. Harrumph. You can bet your boots it'll show up roughly five minutes after I bring a new one home :P Friday afternoon I've booked off work so I can go get a haircut and buy one or two bits and bobs.
Friday evening will be packing, which won't take long as yet again 'm attempting an international trip on hand luggage only. I maaay have to check the rucksack in on the two internal flights I'll be taking, but that's ok. I know it'll be fine for the international part of the trip and really it's baggage claim at Heathrow that I hate so much.
And then I fly off to the US West Coast for 2 weeks! I think this is the longest holiday I've had abroad since I was a teen - most of the big US trips have been 13 days or so. Eee! Really looking forward to it. *happy bounce*
Right, quick update on all things in my Mitchy-shaped world :)
So last Thursday, I scampered out of work early and leapt on a train to Birmingham, in order to meet Mary R who was on a flying visit to the UK and whose birthday was that day.
I have to say, the travel was very easy. Quick hop from WGC to Finsbury Park, then across on the Underground to Euston, then I barely had to wait 15 minutes before I settled onto the very shiny Virgin train up to Birmingham International. I had enough time at Euston to buy a tasty pasty for lunch (cheese and bacon - nyom!) and a couple of cans of cider :D
The weather was vile throughout and I figured I'd get soggy wet at Birmingham getting from the station to the hotel. As it turned out, I was wrong. The hotel that Mary was in was the Novotel at Birmingham Airport. Turned out there was a lil' shuttle train from the railway station to Terminal 1 and the hotel was bang opposite. I only had a short scamper across the road to the hotel to cope with! Excellent!
Mary was there, surrounded by all her shiny toys - not for nothing do her colleagues call her "Gadet Girl". She let me play with her iPad - very shiny :) We caught up for a bit and then scampered off to meet up with Zoe and Andy, who were en route from the Lake District to Bedford and were kindly playing chauffeur for us :) We went to a nearby Weatherspoons for coffee/booze while the worst of the local rush hour sorted itself out and then headed off to an all you can eat Chinese buffet play Zoe had scouted out on the internet. Vast amounts of chinese food was consumed and, as usual, I misjudged it and left myself no room for dessert. Conversation was wide ranging, as you might expect given all of us come from very different backgrounds and occupations :)
After an excellent evening, Zoe and Andy dropped us back at the hotel - talk about troopers, they still had a couple of hours driving to do to get to Bedford! Mary had to be up at some stupid hour like 6am, so we didn't stay up yakking for too long, but there was time to play with the iPad some more and to drink the can of cider left in my bag, while Mary indulged in a beer from the hotel bar :)
I was awake briefly to see Mary off but sensibly snoozed for a bit longer after she left for the looooong (not) trek to the airport :D I didn't linger though, I was awfully hungry when I woke up, so I headed out around 9.30 and stopped at one of the restaurants in the airport (a Frankie and Benny's, I think) for a large, cooked breakfast. And lots of tea :) Suitably fueled, I caught an earlier train back to WGC than I'd planned, and had an equally smooth journey home. Got in around 1.30pm. And promptly curled up and snored for a few hours. I hadn't really slept well in the hotel - the bed was small and I couldn't get comfy. So I really needed the sleep! It was worth it to see Mary R though and help her celebrate her birthday :)
I'm sure I did stuff at the weekend but what I did escapes me. There was football and baseball and American Football watching. Oh and I bought the DVD of Robin Hood with Russell Crowe, so there was happy squeaking over that at some point :)
This week is all about the last minute holiday stuff. This morning, I've bought my train tix to get to and from Heathrow. It was the cheapest and quickest option this time around - normally I leave the car in long term parking but I baulked at paying current prices for a 17 day stay! Tonight 'm going shopping for a new shiny phone, possibly an Android. More about that if I find something. Tomorrow I must buy a rucksack. I had a great rucksack that would be perfect for this trip but I can't find the blasted thing anywhere. Harrumph. You can bet your boots it'll show up roughly five minutes after I bring a new one home :P Friday afternoon I've booked off work so I can go get a haircut and buy one or two bits and bobs.
Friday evening will be packing, which won't take long as yet again 'm attempting an international trip on hand luggage only. I maaay have to check the rucksack in on the two internal flights I'll be taking, but that's ok. I know it'll be fine for the international part of the trip and really it's baggage claim at Heathrow that I hate so much.
And then I fly off to the US West Coast for 2 weeks! I think this is the longest holiday I've had abroad since I was a teen - most of the big US trips have been 13 days or so. Eee! Really looking forward to it. *happy bounce*
bouncy
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